1968 and 2018: The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Portfolio features a series of twenty-five screenprints by twenty-four artists that express the fundamental principles and core concepts that guide the work of the new Poor People’s Campaign. On December 4, 1967, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. announced plans for a Poor People’s Campaign and called for the nation to take dramatic steps to end poverty. In the wake of his assassination the Campaign went forward but fell short of its vision. Fifty years later, a new Poor People’s Campaign has emerged from over a decade of work by grassroots movements fighting to end poverty, racism, militarism, and environmental destruction. The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is building a broad and deep national movement—rooted in the leadership of poor people—to unite from the bottom up in a Campaign that can bring forth a moral revolution of values to achieve equality and justice for all people.

On the 50th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Beyond Vietnam speech, organizers from the new Poor People’s Campaign reached out to artists across the country with a general call for artwork addressing the themes central to the Campaign. Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative responded to the call by setting out to make a popular education portfolio for Campaign activists and organizers to use during regional and local teach-ins in preparation for the 40 Days of Moral Action that will begin on Mother’s Day, May 2018.

Note: Bill Mauldin’s 1968 political cartoon “Getting into Step” about the original Poor People’s Campaign was reprinted for educational purposes with an awareness of the problematic tropes used in the print.

Associated Artists: Aaron Hughes, Colin Matthes, Erik Ruin, Jesse Purcell, Josh MacPhee, Kevin Caplicki, Mary Tremonte, Nicolas Lampert, Paul Kjelland, Pete Railand, & Roger Peet

Other Artists: Art Hazelwood, Ashley Hufnagel, Eli Wright, Eric J. Garcia, Jane Norling, Joanna Ruckman, Mary Patten, Sam Companatico, Sarah Farahat, & Yvette M. Pino

Open by Appointment outside of receptions until July 6th. For an appointment, call 312 852 7717.

July 13th: “There goes the neighborhood!” The Fair Housing Act of 1968- Segregation, Affordability and Gentrification of Chicago in 2018

August 10th: Vote With Your Feet! Failures of Electoral Politics

September 14th: Walkout! 1968 and 2018 School Walkouts